Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

"That's not right!!" Professor Uregor protested.

"Yes?" Yi-Han questioned.

"I said you could use all the ingredients in this room, but just snatching the potion and submitting it, don't you think that's nonsensical?" Professor Uregor protested. Yi-Han hesitated for a moment before looking at Professor Uregor as if he were a strange person.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Professor Uregor asked again, "...Wasn't that your plan?"

"No, it wasn't. I mean, who would just snatch a potion and submit it like that? Really, Professor..." Yi-Han replied, leaving Professor Uregor feeling somewhat sheepish and then suddenly irate.

'Is this kid really snatching the potion with force and then acting like this?' Professor Uregor thought. The idea that a student who had just forcefully taken a potion from his grasp was now treating him as if he were the odd one was utterly baffling. If it weren't for the potential that the student might become the Empire's greatest swordsman, Professor Uregor would have slapped him.

"Then why did you take it?" he asked.

"I took it to analyze the potion more accurately. I thought it was unlikely that you would give it to me if I asked," Yi-Han explained.

"Hmm..." Professor Uregor mumbled. It was a valid point. He had no intention of giving the potion to the students even if they asked.

However, just because it was a valid point didn't mean it wasn't annoying. Professor Uregor found his student particularly irksome today.

"Hmph. Let's see how well you do," Professor Uregor said, crossing his arms and glaring at Yi-Han.

Snatching the potion was unexpected, but replicating it would still be a challenging task. Even if Yi-Han had the potion in hand, analyzing and understanding its properties was an entirely different matter.

'Surely he's not foolish enough to just drink it...' Professor Uregor worried.

Of course, the clever boy from the Wardanaz family wouldn't do that, but it was also true that he occasionally did crazy things nonchalantly.

He wouldn't be surprised if Yi-Han just drank it!

Contrary to Professor Uregor's worries, Yi-Han approached the task very methodically.

'What about this method?' Yi-Han thought.

He took a few drops of the potion from the bottle and spread them on the ground. Then, he waved his wand and chanted a spell.

"Components, separate."

'He learned that magic!' Professor Uregor was surprised.

<Components Separation> magic.

It was a spell used to forcibly separate the ingredients in things like potions. While it was a convenient spell that any alchemist would use, Professor Uregor had deliberately not taught it. To become an outstanding alchemist, one needed the passion to seek and learn on their own. A student spoon-fed by a professor could never become an outstanding alchemist.

Yi-Han, in line with Professor Uregor's educational philosophy, had independently searched the library and learned the magic.

Seeing this, Professor Uregor nodded his head.

'What an annoying kid!' Professor Uregor silently hoped that Yi-Han would fail the magic spell and end up inhaling acrid smoke, coughing uncontrollably. Fortunately, the <Component Separation> magic was not an easy spell. If one knew the exact ingredients inside, it was easier to separate them, but otherwise, it was challenging. Magic wasn't a universal key that solved everything just by chanting a spell. The same magic could vary greatly depending on the knowledge and skill of the mage using it. Unless Yi-Han was going to forcibly separate the ingredients by pouring an excessive amount of mana...

"Ah," Professor Uregor realized belatedly, as he noticed the potion drops slowly separating on the ground.

'It's working better than I thought.' Yi-Han and Yonaire were the students most dedicated to alchemy in the tower. To analyze the potions stolen by Ratford, learning the <Component Separation> magic was inevitable. It was a spell Yi-Han had discovered while flipping through an alchemy book, painstakingly learning it from various other books. He had been worried about whether it would work, but fortunately, the spell was more effective than expected. The potion drops split into smaller droplets of various colors.

Yi-Han looked up at Professor Uregor. 'Hmm. It seems to have worked well.' Judging by Professor Uregor's very displeased expression, it was clear that the spell had been successful.

"I'll give you credit for separating the potion like that," Professor Uregor conceded.

"Thank you," Yi-Han responded.

"But that's not enough. You won't be able to identify the separated components!"

"Ah. Isn't this a potion of confidence?"

"????" Professor Uregor was taken aback. How did he know?!

Nillia, who had finished her exam before Yi-Han, was chatting with Ratford. "Did you manage to match the color? That's impressive."

"I was just lucky," Ratford replied modestly.

"I don't think I managed to get it even close..."

"Don't worry about it. This was a test no one could achieve a perfect result on. The professor would have seen your process," Ratford comforted Nillia, who nodded, seemingly reassured.

"But why did you leave me out and roam the night academy last time?"

"......" Ratford broke into a nervous sweat.

"Well, I told you, didn't I? Tutanta of the Salko family only travels with his trusted subordinates. I was called as a guide. Wardanaz didn't know about it either. If it were just us, I would have definitely invited you."

"Ah. Right. That's true," Nillia nodded, convinced.

After talking about the alchemy class for about ten minutes, Nillia asked again, "But couldn't you have called me before leaving?"

"..." Ratford involuntarily glanced at the door.

'When will Mr. Wardanaz come out?'

He couldn't persuade her; it had to be Yi-Han.

"What do you think? Huh? What's your opinion?"

"Well... Salko has a bit of a temper..." Ratford didn't really have a grudge against Salko, but in the current situation, he had no choice but to paint him in a bad light.

"He didn't give me a chance to..."

"Like last time at the island, too. After everything was prepared, he went with the friends from the White Tiger, right? What do you think about that?"

"Well... the guys from White Tiger are known to be rough and deceitful..." Ratford didn't bear any particular ill will towards them either, but once again, he had no choice.

"From Mr. Wardanaz's perspective, it must have been unavoidable."

"I suppose that was an unavoidable situation too, right?"

"Yes. So, let's drop this topic now..."

"Right. ...Have I been complaining too much?" Realizing she might have been grumbling, Nillia asked. Ratford quickly shook his head.

"No?"

"Good. Then that's a relief."

Nillia then spent another fifteen minutes talking about alchemy - about the recent exam, the assignments, and speculations about the midterms... Other students from the Black Tortoise who had completed their exams also joined the conversation, sharing their opinions. With the topic now completely shifted, Ratford breathed a sigh of relief.

"But this isn't about me, it's about a friend of mine. He says that students from the other towers keep forgetting him and wandering off."

"..." Ratford hung his head low.

Unaware of the exact situation, the students from the Black Tortoise joined the conversation seriously.

"Maybe it's because it's a different tower? People from other towers are basically rude, arrogant, or haughty."

"At least the Immortal Phoenix is better."

"The guys from the White Tiger are really unlucky."

While Ratford was pondering how to change the subject, Yi-Han emerged from the door. Ratford was as relieved to see Yi-Han as if he had been given a warm soup after days of hunger.

"Mr. Wardanaz...!" 'Was the exam that difficult?' Yi-Han was slightly taken aback as Ratford called out to him with a voice filled with emotion.

"What's the matter?"

"Please explain to Miss Nillia about what happened last time."

"Why, Ratford? I told you I understood everything." Nillia reprimanded Ratford without changing her expression, as if asking what he was talking about. Ratford opened his mouth in a mix of frustration and disbelief, looking at Nillia. 'Is that really the behavior of someone who understands everything...!?'

Yi-Han quickly grasped the situation, having been prepared for such a scenario ever since the night he roamed the academy with Salko from the Tutanta family. "Nillia, Salko was a bit too much. I asked if we could invite you, but he strongly objected."

"!"

"?"

Ratford tilted his head, puzzled. Had such a conversation ever taken place? “I heard that other friends lose confidence when they have a skilled hunter like you.”

"Really?"

Nillia's long ears perked up and lifted slightly. Yi-Han nodded solemnly, convincing even Ratford, who felt as if such a conversation might have actually happened. "Yonaire wasn't allowed to come either. Salko went too far, didn't he? But don't be too hard on him. He did it for the sake of his friends."

"...Right. I see now!" Nillia responded, her face noticeably brighter than before, and her ears were much higher.

Ratford whispered quietly, "Did you really have that conversation?"

"Shh. Keep it down."

"..."

The students from the Black Tortoise called out to Yi-Han. "Mr. Wardanaz, how was the exam? Did you manage to create the perfect potion?"

"Of course not. It was an impossible exam to begin with. I failed." Hearing Yi-Han's words, the other students felt relieved. If even Yi-Han, the top student, said so, they felt a bit better about their own performance. Maybe it wasn't as bad as they thought!

"Did anyone notice any specific properties? I smelled a pungent odor, so I tried adding Findensis."

"Really? I tried to match the color, focusing on similar hues..." While the students were discussing, Yi-Han listened quietly.

Soon after, Yonaire, the last to take the exam, walked out of the door. "You all did well. Though the potions you made would be dangerous to sell anywhere, you did work hard." Professor Uregor's words earned him a glare from the students. The dwarf professor chuckled as if amused.

"Honestly, the exam was too difficult, Professor!"

"Shouldn't it at least be within what we've learned?"

"Even Mr. Wardanaz failed, who could pass it!" The students desperately protested, worried about such an exam appearing in their midterms.

Listening with a smile, Professor Uregor retorted, seemingly puzzled by their complaints. "What are you talking about? Wardanaz almost succeeded."

"What?"

"He almost succeeded. There was a minor difference, but it was still a success. The highest score." The students from the Black Tortoise, who had just been conversing among themselves, swiftly turned their heads to look for Yi-Han. However, Yi-Han had already left the room and was nowhere to be seen.

Professor Uregor clicked his tongue in disapproval, remarking, "To trust the words of a friend who studies better than you all. How naive."

"...Ugh...!"

"Mr. Wardanaz...! We believed in you...!"

Yi-Han, immersed in thought, read through the notes he had written on a piece of paper. Currently, the freshmen at the magic academy were spreading out like ink droplets dissolved in water. And Yi-Han was the most active in exploring the academy. He had noted several interesting locations:

‘Interesting as these are, I still want to check out the path to the stables in the spire first.’ As Yi-Han was busy drawing maps and jotting down notes on the paper, Gainando, who was watching him, asked, "But are you okay with Professor Garcia's exam?"

"A bit anxious, but I've mostly prepared."

"..."

Gainando stared at Yi-Han as if he were looking at a monster, then muttered to himself, "The Wardanaz family... truly fearsome!"

"It's not really about the Wardanaz family, is it?"